Batala, October 19
Following an assurance from the Gurdaspur administration that their pending sugarcane payments will be cleared before the end of the month, about 1,500 farmers, who have been holding a protest on the Amritsar-Pathankot rail track for the past 36 hours, cleared the track.
During the initial stages of negotiations between the administration led by Deputy Commissioner Vipul Ujwal and farmer unions, including the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC), nothing seemed to move, leaving officials facing a serious law and order problem.
Tents had sprung up late last night indicating that a long drawn out struggle was on the cards. Farmers found support of the locals, who maintained a regular supply of food items.
In an attempt to end the stalemate, negotiators got in touch with officials of two cooperative mills of the district and also with those of the Chadha Sugar Mill Private Limited, Kiri Afgana.
Finally, out of the total Rs 74 crore due from the three factories, the DC promised the farmers that they would get Rs 40 crore soon, probably before the end of this month. Union leaders went in a huddle and finally after three hours they agreed to the proposal.
Officials, apparently under pressure from Chandigarh, wanted to finish off the negotiations today itself as prolonging them could lead to a law and order crisis. They were also aware of CID reports claiming the farmers were prepared to stretch the agitation for a few more days.
However, some leaders claimed that the administration had just brought time and had done nothing tangible.
“Apart from settling our dues, we also wanted the government to assure us that the capacity of all nine government sugar mills across the state will be increased. However, officials remained silent on this issue. In Gurdaspur district itself, 90 lakh tonnes of cane is grown every season but mills have the capacity to crush just 12.5 lakh tonnes. On the one hand, the government talks about diversification while on the other hand mills do not have adequate crushing capacity. We also wanted to talk about the compensation to be given to us if we do not burn paddy stubble, but officials remained quiet on this aspect too,” said Swaran Singh Pandher, general secretary, Punjab KMSC.